Christmas Misconceptions
by Twilight Fantasy
Summary: a cute one-shot ficlet concerning a vengeful house-elf and a 3-year old Draco trying to learn the meaning of Christmas


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Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from the Harry Potter books or movies, which belong to J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros, etc.

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Author's Note: Ahh…back again, but not quite with that d/hg story like I promised (yet, anyway). In any case, here's just a little one-shot fic that was inspired by a webcam of a plush dragon! :) lol! Ahh…the way the mind associates things with Harry Potter. Anyway, read on, enjoy the story, and review it! :D

¤ This story takes place when Draco was still an innocent little 3-year old a few days before Christmas.

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Christmas Misconceptions

"Come on Lucius! You have to help me out! You're my only hope!" 

Draco watched wide-eyed as a chubby, balding man pleaded with his father. He didn't quite understand what was happening. All he knew was that the man was sad about something.

"They fired me from my job, and it's only a few days before Christmas! What am I going to tell my children, my wife? It's almost Christmas for God's sake!"

…Christmas…what did that mean? What is Christmas?

"I only need a few galleons, please Lucius. They'll turn my family out on the street! We used to be good friends and I would have helped you out if you were in my place."

"Thankfully, I'm not. What do I look like-- some kind of charity? You've dug your own grave," Lucius said coldly.

"It's Christmas! Haven't you got any spirit?" What happened to the goodwill and everything around this season?"

"It withered along with my respect for you and your scrounging and begging for handouts. Get out of my house," he commanded. He snapped his fingers and the house-elf, Bunky, appeared instantly. "Show this _wizard_ out the door, Bunky."

"Yes master. Sir, please follow Bunky." Bunky beckoned to the man and led him out the door. 

"Dear Lord, it's _Christmas_, Lucius!" the man cried, growing increasingly angry.

…Christmas…there was that word again. He would have to ask Bunky about that at bed-time.

"You'll pay for this! I'll make you wish you were never born!" Lucius stood up quickly at this threat, about to retaliate, but Bunky beat him to it.

"Sir will not insult master!" he screeched shrilly. He pointed a long, bony finger at the man and sent him flying backwards into an expensive ming vase. It tottered on its pedestal before shattering into millions of pieces.

"You! Get out of my house!" bellowed a livid Lucius Malfoy. The man was magically flung from the house, such was the wrath of the angered Malfoy. "And you!" he shouted, rounding on the nervous Bunky. "You ruined that priceless vase-- even if I put it back together, it will have lost all value!" 

"B-bunky is s-sorry sir…b-but sir, Bunky was just trying to p-protect kind master…"

"You dare question me?! No food and extra chores and punishments for you!"

"B-but sir…"

"One more contradiction and it will be clothes, Bunky," Lucius warned.

"Yes master," Bunky replied sullenly before slinking away. Draco did not wish to catch the blunt end of his father's anger either, so he quietly tiptoed out of the room. However, a three-year-old can only go so far without making some kind of sound. As it was, Draco tripped and fell right at his father's feet.

"Draco, what are you doing up so late? It's time for you to go to bed."

"Yes, daddy." Draco walked down the cold, empty halls. As he neared the stairs, he quickly ran past the room to his right. This room always gave him the creeps-- his father kept a display case there filled with shrunken hands and heads. They provided a strong brand of Dark magic when used in rituals or potions, but to Draco, the heads always seemed to stare at him and follow his movements with their empty eye sockets, and the hands seemed to reach out towards him. One of his biggest fears was that the hands would manage to grope their way out of the display case, crawl along in the house and grab him from one of the many shadows that enshrouded the house's rooms and halls.

Once he was past this room, he continued up the stairs, shivering from the cold draft that blew through the cracks in the window. Finally he reached his room, although this did not hold much warmth. The sheets were a dark green, as were the curtains that shut the light from his room. He crawled into his much too large bed in his much too large room, grasped his cherished plush dragon, Poofy, and waited for Bunky to come tuck him in. He heard a sound in the hallway and immediately drew up the blanket over his head, an image of the reaching hand filling his mind.

"Young master, sir?" It was Bunky. Draco allowed him to pull the blankets back down from over his head. "Sir shouldn't be afraid of those hands. They cannot harm you." Draco relaxed slightly and asked the question that had been on his mind for the past hour. 

"Bunky, what is Christmas?" 

"Christmas? Christmas is…" Bunky suddenly got a malicious gleam in his eye. Here was his chance for a little revenge for his extra punishments and chores. "Christmas is something that happens when it gets cold and white outside. It is a very bad time when all kinds of nasty things happen. It is a time when those hands and heads in the downstairs room try and find their way back to their master's body." Bunky broke off and leaned closer to Draco. "Some say that the body is hidden still in the manor…in this very room."

Draco whimpered and backed up further along the headboard, pulling his blanket tighter around himself. "Then what happens?" he whispered, his eyes very wide with fear.

"When the full body is complete, the man calls himself Santa Claus and puts lots of presents under Christmas trees all over the world, but the presents are filled with monsters to scare the little kiddies."

"I thought you said those hands couldn't hurt me," Draco said, very close to crying now.

"Only on Christmas when they join to make Santa." Draco whimpered again and inched further back. He looked lost among the blankets. Bunky noticed this and took pity on Draco…but only to a certain extent. He was still quite furious with Lucius. "Don't worry, young sir. It is only one night of the year. Do not keep thinking about him and you must _not_ tell master and mistress about him or Santa will get angrier. Goodnight."

Bunky turned out the lights and shut the door, leaving Draco alone in the dark. He pulled the blanket back over his head and held tight to Poofy. The Sandwizard would not be visiting him for a very long time.

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Draco dragged himself from bed the next morning when the sun shone through his opened curtains. He yawned and stretched before leaping to the floor. He walked down to the dining area where his mother was having tea. He did a double take by the window and gaped outside.

"It's all white out!" he cried.

"That's right. It snowed overnight. It looks like we'll be having a white Christmas after all."

…Christmas… Draco gave her a horrified look. His mother couldn't help but notice this.

"Don't look so scared, dear. Today's Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, there will be lots of presents, and most of them are for you," Narcissa said, trying to be comforting though she was confused as to why he looked so afraid. He gave her an even more terrified look and raced from the room. Narcissa was left in the room just shaking her head. What had gotten into Draco?

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Draco patrolled the halls, in one hand he held Poofy whom he believed could protect him from anything, and the other was tucked up his sleeve because it was so cold. He was flitting from lighted area to lighted area, hovering near the room with the heads and hands. He kept peeking in to make sure that none were missing or moving, but every time he looked in, he was sure that the hands were a little closer to the doors. Finally, abandoning his 'guard duty', he fled to his parents' room in hopes that they could protect him. Alas, when he threw open the heavy oak doors to their bedroom, no one was there as they were both out doing some last minute Christmas shopping. 

"Mommy? Daddy?" he called in a quavering voice. He wandered down one gloomy hallway after another, clutching his plush dragon close to him with his pudgy arms. At last, his little legs could not carry him anymore and his lack of sleep the night before took its toll. He fell asleep in the main hallway, and this is where his parents found him. Lucius gently picked him up and tucked him into bed, wondering why his son was sleeping on the floor.

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"Draco? Honey, wake up." Narcissa gently shook her son awake. "It's Christmas Day, and there are lots of presents waiting for you." Draco sat up slowly, rubbing sleep from his eyes. 

"Christmas? Presents?" he asked, a sense of panic overwhelming him. Santa Claus had come to life! Narcissa did not notice his panic and grabbed his hand. 

"Let's go down and open them now, shall we?" 

"No!" Draco cried. "Monsters will come out!" He realized that he had said too much and did not want Santa to get angrier. He clapped his hand over his mouth.

"Monsters? What?" Draco shook his head and reluctantly allowed himself to be led down to the Christmas tree, but not before grabbing Poofy.

A sight like nothing he had ever seen greeted him at the bottom of the stairs. A large tree was decorated with hundreds of glittering fairies, musical bells, and all sorts of other beautiful decorations. Boxes and parcels of all shapes and sizes were piled under the tree. 

"Here, Draco. Open this present-- it's from me," his father said, handing him a large parcel. Draco shook his head and backed away from it, hugging Poofy to his chest. "Come on, it won't hurt you." Still Draco refused to open it. Lucius shot his wife a look, shrugged, and set down to opening his own presents. He pulled out a small box and opened it to reveal a warm pair of wool socks and classy gloves. Draco stared at the box. When no monsters came out, he thought that it might be safe enough to open his own presents. He reached out with a shaking hand and pulled the wrapping paper off the present.

"A BROOM! WOW!" he yelled happily. "This isn't a monster like Bunky said it would be."

"What?!" Lucius asked angrily. Draco felt safe enough to reveal his whole misconception about Christmas. "Bunky, get over here!" Lucius bellowed when Draco was done.

"Y-yes, master?" Bunky asked nervously, appearing in an instant. 

"You've been telling my son lies to purposely _scare_ him, you haven't been tending to him and I found him asleep on the _floor_ in the hall, you broke my vase, and I won't have it anymore!" Lucius bent down and picked up the socks that he had just unwrapped. He whipped it at Bunky and it hit him on the head right between his ears. "YOU'RE FIRED!!!" Bunky bowed low.

"Yes, sir," he said happily. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Draco, however did not notice any of this. He was too busy zooming around on his new broom. It only hovered two feet above the ground, and went at a pace an adult could jog at, but it was an adventurous ride for Draco. Poofy lay forgotten on the floor.

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The End

A/N: So how'd you like it? Good, bad, awful? Should I leave my computer off and stop typing and just conserve energy? Tell me in a review! For any draco/hermione shippers, visit my great friend jd and my (though mostly jd's) website at dh.forgotten-memories.net and leave a message on the tagboard, email us, or REVIEW here! :D


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